What is Softball?
Softball is fundamentally similar to baseball but with several differences. These differences pertain to ball, bat and field size, among others, which will be discussed further below.
There are two types of softball, fast-pitch and slow-pitch. As the names suggest, fast-pitch softball involves the ball travelling at a fast speed due to throwing the ball at an upward angle.
On the other hand, the ball moves slower in slow-pitch softball primarily because there is no windup and windmill motion when the ball is thrown as in the fast-pitch version.
Interestingly, baseball and softball both originated in the late 1800s, only 20 – 30 or so years apart. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, softball did not originate from baseball, but in fact, derives from the game of football.
According to the stories, during a college football match between Yale and Harvard in the late 1880s, an alumnus of one of the schools threw a boxing glove at an alumunus from the other school who responded by hitting it back with a stick.
Someone simply yelled ‘play ball’, and so the game of softball was invented.
As its name suggests, softball was given its name because a softer ball was initially used in playing the game. Over time, that changed and now the softball is much harder. In addition, softball was initially an indoor game but it has now evolved into both an indoor and outdoor sport.
Let’s look at some of the differences between baseball and softball with respect to some of the tools/equipment, elements and rules of the games.